Topic: Nintendo Announces NES GBA SP, Plus Retro Games

[Jonnyboy117]

Nintendo confirms release of classic NES titles on GBA in America, plus NES-style GBA SP.  The press release says "bitchin'", so you should probably see this.

NINTENDO LAUNCHES CLASSIC NES GAMES FOR GAME BOY ADVANCE SP

The Games are, Like, Way Awesome, and the New Game Boy Advance SP is Bitchin'

 REDMOND, Wash., March 29, 2004 - Wait 'til you hear! On June 7, Nintendo is going totally retro with a classic collection of eight Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)® games for the Game Boy® Advance and a tubular new Game Boy® Advance SP that looks like an itty bitty NES console. The '80s were, like, a long time ago. But everything from then is way cool again. Back then, games went from blocky bleeps and bloops to sweet side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros.® And the most excellent NES saved the day for the video game industry. Bonus!

"I mean, Donkey Kong and Pac-Man? These are, like, the best games ever," says Perrin "Mallrat" Kaplan, Nintendo of America's vice president, marketing and corporate affairs. "And if you aren't just dying to get your hands on the gnarly new Classic NES Limited Edition GBA SP, you're a total dweeb."

OK, so let's break it down: The bodacious new Game Boy Advance SP has the same guts and everything as a regular one, but its casing looks just like the NES. And it's still at an MSRP of $99.99. Be sure to get to the mall, like, really early, because it's a "limited edition."

The Classic NES Series, which you totally have to get, includes all the hottest retro games, each one at an MSRP of $19.99. Check it out:

Donkey Kong: The best game featuring a plumber rescuing a princess from a big ape pretty much ever.

 Pac-Man: Hel-lo? If you don't know this game then where have you been?

 The Legend of Zelda: Dude! How classic can you get? The righteous Link whips Ganon and saves Zelda. Link rules!

 Super Mario Bros.: There are pipes and coins and these grody goombas and you just stomp away.

 Excitebike: It's a rad motocross racing game that lets you rip around a track and kick up dirt and stuff.

 Ice Climber: Like, duh. You climb the ice and whack monsters.

 Xevious: Go to space and shoot stuff with your wicked spaceship.

 Bomberman: Drop bombs on the baddies.

[elessar]

Gnarly! Tubular! Awesome! Far Out! Way Cool! and whatever those other three levels hidden in Super Mario World were called! Long live the 80s! Long live Ninja Turtles! Surf's up, man! Just one question. If Nintendo wants to bring back the 80s, why don't they resurrect Tradewest and give me some Double Dragon? Cause, I mean, that'd be bodacious! Oh, and another Karate Kid movie! Righteous! Rock on, bro's!! And may Journey Rock forever! Long live Steve Perry!! (Yes, I know he's not the lead singer anymore.)

(Please note that the above post was created specifically to poke fun at this greatly amusing press release. Also note that I have great respect for any company that says Bitchin' in their product blurb. Note again that I think this entire release was thought up by Perrin Kaplan. While taking a bath. Hey, it's nicer to think about than Yamauchi taking one.)

[Ian Sane]

I just realized that Mario is wearing blue and white on the cover of Donkey Kong.  That probably was present on the original box but I wonder why they couldn't get something as easy as costume colour correct in the first place.  He's also wearing white overalls on the SMB cover.

[Jonnyboy117]

On the SMB cover, he's Fire Mario, which means the colors are correct.  Not sure about the DK cover though.

[kennyb27]

Quote
Jonathan says: Hrm, I'm not too keen on the system's look

I would have to disagree there.  I think it looks pretty nice.  In fact, I may have to pick one up.

[Bill Aurion]

Just when I thought Ian had complained about everything...

But yeah, the design is a perfect representation of the NES controller, which gets kudos from me...

[gwgtrunks]

I'm happy I held off on getting an SP now! Of course, I had a feeling after the Famicom Mini series in Japan we were gonna get the same kinda thing...

I wonder if Gamestop's taking reservations on these yet?

[SPhil64]

Plus, you have to remember that Mario and Luigi's original colors aren't the same as they are today.  Originally Mario had a blue shirt and red overalls while Luigi had a green shirt with white overalls and a matching hat.  Check it out, freaky, huh?

[Fammy2000]

Wait, aren't most of these available in Animal Crossing in some shape or form? Just go spend $30 on that game and $10 for a link cable. And 200 hours of game time to unlock them (or a Game Shark).

[Ian Sane]

I'm not complaining I'm just making an observation.

"Originally Mario had a blue shirt and red overalls while Luigi had a green shirt with white overalls and a matching hat."

I remember that very distinctly.  At the time it was released I thought Super Mario Bros 3 looked really odd because that was the first time I saw the switched colours on Mario.  If I'm ever drawing Mario I still have to consciously remember what part is coloured blue since I always initially think of the red overalls.

[joshnickerson]

Ah, now the Perrin quote that IGN posted makes a lot more sense after reading the entire press release.
I hate it when IGN posts quotes out of context like that.

Back on topic, I'm very tempted to pick up the NES SP, even though I already have a Cobalt. The games however, I'm not even going to bother with... unless, of course, Nintendo lowered the price about ten bucks...

[CaseyRyback]

They released this too late for me. I may pick one up and leave it sealed as a collectors item, but the DS comes out this year and there still is a ton of games I want to import for the GBA than waste money on a system

[ralph98201]

my thoughts in three words and one letter: must port super C

[Bloodworth]

Actually, I've heard comments that NOA had to push for that $20 price point rather than the standard $30 that NCL thought it should be. Crazy.

[Ian Sane]

"Actually, I've heard comments that NOA had to push for that $20 price point rather than the standard $30 that NCL thought it should be. Crazy."

One would assume that NCL would just allow NOA to make the call in these situations regarding the US market.  I mean who's going to know more about the North American market?  Americans who live in the United States or Japanese guys who live in Japan?  When it comes to anything regarding the North American market be it advertising, price, console colour, etc NOA should call the shots.

[mouse_clicker]

$20 is still a tad expensive for a single NES game- I could buy an old system and cart for less than that at my local used game shop. Nintendo could really capitalize on these rereleases and put at least two games on a single cartridge.

[nickmitch]

Dude, the NES GBASP looks so totally stupid!
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok enough of that '80's crap. I just wish I had $100 bucks lyin' around. Even though I do I'm still savin' up for a DS and some other games that I've just been too lazy to buy. I really, really want it though.

[nolimit19]

Quote
Originally posted by: mouse_clicker
$20 is still a tad expensive for a single NES game- I could buy an old system and cart for less than that at my local used game shop. Nintendo could really capitalize on these rereleases and put at least two games on a single cartridge.

exactly what i was thinking. there is no reason to sell them individually....well, there is no reason besides greed, but that's not a good reason.

[Bill Aurion]

Even Nintendo is in the business to make money, and if people will buy these games(which they do...look at the Super Mario Advance games), Nintendo will sell them...So you can either 1) swallow your pride and buy the ones you want, or 2) don't buy them...Simple as that...

[mouse_clicker]

True, $20 isn't THAT bad, but it still doesn't justify Nintendo ripping us off- I hope it won't hurt sales. Ah well, I still have most of the games I want out of those for my old NES, so I probably won't be investing much in these rereleases.

[joshnickerson]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Actually, I've heard comments that NOA had to push for that $20 price point rather than the standard $30 that NCL thought it should be. Crazy."

One would assume that NCL would just allow NOA to make the call in these situations regarding the US market.  I mean who's going to know more about the North American market?  Americans who live in the United States or Japanese guys who live in Japan?  When it comes to anything regarding the North American market be it advertising, price, console colour, etc NOA should call the shots.

I totally agree. It's always irked me the way NCL pushes around NOA like that. Myself and a group of friends always thought that the Gamecube would've done a lot better imagewise if NOA had just launched with the Jet colored cube.

[Bartman3010]

I really wish that the boxes looked like the old NES boxes instead of the standard GBA design with the "NES Classic" thing at the top. Look at Japan. The boxes are replicas of the old Famicom boxes.

Secondly, some of these games were on the e-Reader as well. Some of them even go for a dollar. Thats how I got most of my NES cards.

[Djunknown]

Pretty much I'm on the "SP looks nice, but no to the current list of games." bandwagon.

If NOA or NCL took it the next level by releasing the 3rd party classics (Nothing that a phone call to Capcom, Konami, and Tecmo can't fix), then it will pique my interest. I'd be willing to pay full price for Legendary Wings (Capcom), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami, technically the Ultra brand but whatever), Ninja Gaiden 1-3, etc.

But unless we get ANOTHER miracle, that's just wishful thinking.  

[Squiggles the Chao]

I wish I had $100. I've been putting off getting the GBASP, it's too thin, I don't like the more "clicky" buttons, and there's not built-in headphone jack. But, considering I just lost my old GBA, this may be a better solution. They should drop the price a bit though, I don't know how I can justify buying a GBA for the same proce as a GCN.

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
"Actually, I've heard comments that NOA had to push for that $20 price point rather than the standard $30 that NCL thought it should be. Crazy."

One would assume that NCL would just allow NOA to make the call in these situations regarding the US market.  I mean who's going to know more about the North American market?  Americans who live in the United States or Japanese guys who live in Japan?  When it comes to anything regarding the North American market be it advertising, price, console colour, etc NOA should call the shots.

Well, when you look at current economic factors, the dollar slid against the yen and the euro today, AGAIN. The dollar simply has less buying power worldwide. If NCL needs money from NOA for reaserch ande development, each dollar will buy just a bit more than half of what it would three years ago. In terms of local stuff, marketing etc, the only hampering factor to buying power is inflation. NOA more or less can buy the same amount of maketing it could three years ago.

[KDR_11k]

Perrin Kaplan is about to make you her BITCH!

Those bloody bastards dropped Star Soldier, the only game of the whole collection I'd care about... Well, okay, Ice Climbers and SMB might go as well... Though didn't they release SMB on GBC before?